Whole-Home Renovation in Arlington, VA

What a whole-home renovation in Arlington actually involves

• Assessment before scope. Walk the house against what you want, then establish what has to happen regardless — electrical service capacity, plumbing material, the condition of the roof and envelope, structural issues, and whether there is knob-and-tube, galvanized supply, or a failing sewer lateral in the way.
• Design, engineering and a real budget. Drawings that reflect what will actually be built, structural design where walls come out, and a line-item budget with allowances that are honest rather than lowballed to win the job.
• One permit strategy. A coordinated permit package rather than a series of separate applications filed as each phase surprises everyone. Building, electrical, plumbing and mechanical, sequenced so inspections do not stall the schedule.
• Structural and layout changes. Wall removals, beam installations, new openings, stair modifications and floor-level reconciliation, all engineered and inspected.

Lead paint: the rule that applies to most of Arlington

Federal law — the EPA's Renovation, Repair and Painting rule — requires that work disturbing painted surfaces in a home built before 1978 be performed by a certified firm using contained work practices, with specific cleanup afterward. Most of Arlington's housing stock predates 1978, so assume this applies to your house unless someone has established otherwise. We hold the certification and we price the containment into the job rather than discovering it later. A bid that never mentions lead on a house of this age is a bid that has not been thought through.

What drives the cost on a Arlington whole-home renovation

Anyone can publish a range. Almost nobody can publish one that survives contact with an actual house, which is why we do not. The list below is the honest version: the specific things that decide whether your project lands at the bottom or the top of whatever range you have in your head.

• Envelope condition. Roof, windows and siding at end of life turn a renovation into a renovation plus an envelope replacement.
• The age of the house and what is behind the plaster. Pre-1978 homes require lead-safe work practices throughout, and homes of certain eras may contain asbestos in flooring, mastic or pipe insulation that requires proper handling.
• Finish level, which is the part you control most directly and the part that varies most widely.
• Small lots where lot coverage and setbacks bind almost immediately, which is why so much Arlington expansion goes up or straight back rather than sideways. That is a Arlington-specific factor and it belongs in the conversation early.

Months, not weeks, and the honest answer depends on scope, whether you are living in it, and how the reviewing jurisdiction handles the permit package. What we can commit to is a written schedule with milestones, and telling you promptly when something moves rather than at the end.

The mistakes we get called in to fix

• Finishing the interior before fixing the roof and windows. Water does not respect the order you spent your money in.
• Hiring on price without verifying license status, insurance certificates and whether the contractor has ever pulled a permit under their own name in your jurisdiction.
• Ignoring air sealing and insulation while the walls are open. It is the cheapest it will ever be and the difference is permanent.

One licensed team, one contract, one point of contact

Our position is simple and it is checkable. We hold MHIC #111971 in Maryland. We carry general liability and workers' compensation coverage, and we will send you the certificates before you sign rather than after you ask twice. Our subcontracted trades carry their own coverage and their own trade licenses, and the trade permits are pulled under those licenses, as they are required to be. You sign one contract with one company, and that company is the one answering the phone when something needs answering.

Where we work in Arlington

• 22201
• 22203
• 22205
• 22207
• 22209
• Lyon Park
• Ashton Heights
• Cherrydale
• Westover
• Aurora Highlands
• Bluemont

How a Arlington project runs

1. On-site consultation, measurements, and a scope you can read. We start by understanding the house and what you want from it. Measurements, photographs, a look at the systems, and an honest conversation about which parts of your wish list the building will actually support.
2. Feasibility against Arlington rules, before design. We establish what Arlington County will require for whole-home renovation at your address, and what your lot, your zoning and your existing house will allow. Where historic review applies, that submission is prepared and filed first, because the building permit is not useful until it clears.
3. A scope you approve before anything is filed. Line items, stated allowances, and a written change-order process, because the disputes in this industry all live in the space between what was assumed and what was written. Once you approve it, we prepare the permit submission and carry it through review.
4. One supervisor, one schedule, one handover. MHIC #111971, The same person runs your job start to finish, we meet every inspection, and at the end you get a punch walk under working light plus the closed permits and warranty documentation as a package.

Whole-Home Renovation across Arlington

Regular working area here: Lyon Park, Ashton Heights, Cherrydale, Westover, Aurora Highlands and Bluemont, plus 22201, 22203, 22205, 22207, 22209. Arlington land values mean the calculation is almost always renovate-and-expand versus sell, and the pop-top or rear addition is the default answer. The constraint is zoning, not construction. What buyers and appraisers in this market respond to is square footage added without losing the yard, a second full bath, and a main level that functions for a family rather than for 1938 — worth knowing whether you are renovating to stay or renovating to sell.

Homeowners here usually reach us for more than one thing at a time. Related work in Arlington: home additions in Arlington, kitchen remodeling in Arlington, bathroom remodeling in Arlington, window replacement in Arlington.

Most remodelers stop at the drywall. We started at the roof and worked inward, so the envelope is not a referral for us. Roof replacement, siding, aluminum siding, gutters, soffit and fascia and window replacement all sit under the same contract as the interior work, which matters most on the day somebody opens a wall and finds out why the paint kept failing.

Arlington whole-home renovation questions